Deepika Padukone Credits Her Mom for Helping Her Seek Help for Depression
For BAZAAR.com’s fall digital cover, Bollywood star Deepika Padukone speaks candidly about mental health and her own personal experiences with depression and anxiety.
Padukone says she sought professional help after her mother encouraged her to.
The actress has been outspoken about her mental health issues in the past, founding The Live Love Laugh Foundation to spread mental wellness awareness.
Bollywood star Deepika Padukone wants to bring mental health awareness to the forefront of the conversation in India. Speaking with BAZAAR.com, she talks about her own experiences with depression and anxiety, what it took to overcome the stigma shrouding mental illness, and why it’s important for everyone to educate themselves on mental wellness.
At the beginning of her success in Bollywood, Padukone recalls breaking down into tears in front of her mother. “I just couldn’t stop crying,” she tells BAZAAR.com. “[My mom] asked, ‘Is it your relationship? Is it your work?’ And I said, “No, no, no, none of those things.’ I just kept saying, ‘No, no, no. I don’t know. I don’t why I feel empty.”
In response, Padukone’s mother told her to seek help. “There was no conversation, there was no argument,” the actress says of the interaction.
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Her mother’s encouragement jolted Padukone to reach out to an old family friend and therapist, Anna Chandy. Later, she was diagnosed with clinical depression and anxiety.
“I wasn’t aware of what mental illness was, and I didn’t realize the importance of mental health,” Padukone says. “When we have a fever, we know what the symptoms are. Why aren’t we taught to recognize the symptoms of mental illness in the same way? It was a lack of awareness on my part, but also on the part of the people around me. What if it wasn’t for my mother? Who else would have helped me?”
Even after her diagnosis, Padukone reveals that she struggled with the stigma of mental illness. “Typically, in an Indian family, we like to solve our problems internally,” Chandy says, explaining how the culture might keep mental illness awareness at bay. However, receiving open support from her mother changed Padukone's perspective. “She was able to sense that this was not something that can be solved in a family huddle,” Padukone says. "I don’t think I’d be here today if it wasn’t for my mother. I realized the importance of self-care, and when I do it, I do it without guilt. I think women especially have a tendency of doing it with a lot of guilt attached.”
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Padukone eventually founded The Live Love Laugh Foundation, an organization that aims to provide mental health awareness in India. The foundation has launched public health campaigns, like Ask Again, which encourages Indians to acquaint themselves with the symptoms of depression.
Since then, Padukone says, “We’re really seeing the conversation opening up.”
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